El ambiente de negociones en Latin America

I have a new blog about the business environment of Latin America. Actually, it is for a class I am taking but figured I would add the link to this blog as well.

http://labeaprilbodolayfall09.blogspot.com/

Oh yeah, it is also written all in Spanish.

Anyways, classes have begun again for the fall. This will be my last fall as a student. How strange! I have only had one week so far and I have learned so much already. Mostly about blood spatter analysis and that has nothing to do with any of the classes I am taking and everything to do with the amount of Dexter I have been watching on Showtime on Demand. If you haven't seen this show yet it comes highly recommended by yours truly.

As for right now I am at work monitoring a private party. Which means I sit in the office and do homework or whatever else I might want to do while a resident has a party. Also, I get free dinner and my usual hourly wage. So all in all, a good haul indeed.

I hope everyone else is enjoying their Friday night!

Sunday Night Procrastination

Although I only have homework once a week with my current summer classes I am still going to complain about it. I will continue to procrastinate until 11pm on Sunday night to do it, regardless of the fact that I have to be at work at 8:30 in the morning. My grade in this class is based solely on homework, yet I still wait until the very last minute to complete it.

I think I am ready to be finished with classes. Is it possible to still be a college student without taking any classes? Actually, I am ready to go into the working world as long as I get good vacation time.

I think that will be my first question when I begin interviewing for jobs.

24 Days Until Move-Out Day #1

One more day down. Furthermore, only 1 more Business Law exam and then summer classes are OVER! However, the catch with this one is that then summer is over as well. All I have left after that is the dreaded Turn. For all of you not in the Student Housing Industry, Turn is the hellaceous 2-week period of time where everyone moves out of their apartments and then a whole new group of people move into their apartments. You work every day, people are mean, and anything can happen in these apartments - from Moe's menu boards being drilled into the ceiling to boxes of big girls lingerie that resembles the casing of a sausage - the stories are endless. Last year it was mostly humorous, yet I foresee this year it being particularly awful. Let's just say that I will undoubtedly be needing a germ-resistant body shield a la Bubble Boy if anyone expects me to set foot in one of these apartments. Break out the Germ-X!

Lazy Blogger Returns

I have been a terrible blogger. This was supposed to be my year of documentation. I had planned on blogging and keeping a personal journal daily. Then life intervened. Oh well, nothing really eventful has happened in the world since March. I am ok with pretending that is true because there is no way I can possibly fit 3 months of social, political, and pop culture commentary into one blog post.

Tonight I am studying. Surprised? I am actually cramming 3 weeks of Business Law reading into a night before the exam cram session. I have surprisingly been making steady progress so I decided I deserved a break from the monotony of contract law.

This past weekend was the 4th of July and I was not at the beach for it. Devastating I know, but my parents hosted one of our famed family parties at their house and a good time was had by all. Honestly, if I wasn't already a part of my family I would wish I was a part of it. Now that I have made you sufficiently jealous of my family ties I will go on to elaborate about my upcoming week. Tomorrow, the glamour continues as I go to work in the morning, have class, then go back to work, and the cherry on the sundae of my day is my Business Law exam at night. The rest of my week will be filled with going to work and then doing absolutely nothing. I feel like at this point in my life I should have more productive ways of filling the time that I am not at work or in class, but I always make ambitious plans then scrub them to watch The Real Housewives of Insert Your City and/or State Here or troll the Internet for Robert Pattinson news. Either way, I am sure there is something better I could be doing to employ my time.

As for now I should probably continue in my pursuit of learning the subtleties of contracts and the laws governing them. I will write again soon. Well, within the next 3 months at least.

Burrito Count: 3

It's Thursday and I have already had 3 burritos this week. That can't be good for my health. Further, these aren't your safe Moe's fare.. these are real Mexican burritos I'm talking about. I know, I know.. real Mexican burritos in Gainesville? Yes. From the one and only El Indio, the reason for the burrito sensation that has taken my office by storm. It all started out innocent enough a few weeks ago. We were all hungry in the morning, so a fellow worker went to go pick us up some breakfast food. Well, he comes back with breakfast burritos. El Indio breakfast burritos. Let me clarify, El Indio breakfast burritos have eggs, potatoes (!!), your choice of salsa roja or salsa verde (red salsa or green salsa for the Spanish illiterate), your choice of ham or chorizo, and some other unidentifiable delicious objects in them. Not impressed? Well you've obviously never had chorizo in a breakfast burrito. I started out playing it safe with ham, however this week they accidentally messed up my order and I was left with chorizo. The single best mistake of my life and I didn't even make it, it was made for me by El Indio. I honestly can't even put into words how amazing these breakfast burritos are. Which is really sad because this is a blog. So it all began a few weeks ago and ever since, the first thing we discuss when I get to work every morning is how badly we want burritos. Then, 3 out of 4 times (at least this week) we send someone (it has been me once) to go pick them up and have a breakfast burrito meeting in my boss's office. Breakfast burritos are the new crack! They are single-handedly turning me into a morning person. I guess some people have coffee to wake them up each morning, I have breakfast burritos.

Writer's Block Part 1

Well, March is almost over and I have inexplicably ignored my blog for almost the entire month. To be honest, I feel as if I am just returning from Spring Break now as I spent all of last week continuing to drink (albeit still going to work at 8:30 in the morning). So now that it has been so long, I feel the pressure to write something amazing for my next post. The only problem is I have nothing! I haven't discovered anything newly hilarious, nor am I outraged by any particular news story. Further, nothing particularly out of the ordinary has happened to me lately with the exception of getting out of a traffic ticket (the trick is to show a little leg). I'm even drinking beachy malt beverages (Mike's Hard Lemonade.. and no, I don't care that you are judging me at this moment) while typing to try and amp up my creativity and it is not working. Now I am just sleepy. I am thoroughly disappointed in my lackluster attempt at writing today. I won't waste any more of your time.

It's finally here.

Spring Break '09 is finally here! After an abysmal week of library nights and vicious exams, the week long celebration of being young and drinking excessively can finally commence. I have two days left of work (today and tomorrow) then no obligations until March 16th! It will be wonderful. My plans so far include reading the 6th Harry Potter book again (in preparation for the movie), laying out on the beach, fishing off a dock, and drinking margaritas (my SB drink of choice). Honestly, what could be better?

Anyways, I have to go get ready for work now. SPRING BREAK WOO!

Tales from the Library...

I want to leave.

Monday Funday? No, not really.

It is looking like a busy week, so don't hate me if I don't continue posting hilarious pictures.. (Welcome to you are doom? And why is doom in quotations?)

Anyways, today I have the excitement of picking up my dry cleaning, going to the library, going to a work meeting (at Ale House no less, so that actually might be exciting...TEQUILA!), FWIB meeting, then going back to the library.

Also, Zach Braff is speaking on campus today which is super cool but currently I am angry because I cannot attend because of the aforementioned meetings. LAME! Also, I lost my student ID card so I probably would need to get that replaced before I could go. As it is, I feel like the worst Scrubs fan ever and can only say that if he was speaking on campus this time last year I would have given a limb to go but now I am perfectly content just complaining online. Oh, how things change as we age. (And discover funnier tv shows)

However, if Zach Braff should come to discover this little blog I will take that last comment back immediately. Happy Monday everybody!

"... And here I am reduced to postcards, the dry hump of marketing strategies"

Pretty much how I feel about my Man. Econ. test on Wednesday. Also, I'd rather be watching Frisky Dingo than studying.

Oscar Night! And I want it to be Oscar Specific.

Today has been boring. Actually I am just bored now because I am supposed to be studying. But I will do anything to avoid it. ANYTHING! Today I chose blogging. As for the rest of my life, there are currently some exciting developments at work but I am not allowed to fully disclose them at present. All I can say for now is the word "coup." Now I fear I've said too much. As for school, it is the same. I have altered the course of my life once again by choosing a new career, but I tend to do that every two weeks or so.

I watched the Academy Awards last night and I must say the show would of been much better with more Hugh Jackman dance numbers and less acceptance speeches. We get it, this is your life dream coming true. ...ZZZ... As for the dress choices... I finally have a pulpit to give my 2 cents on best and worst dressed so I am totally going to take advantage of it.

I'm going to start out with Best Dressed Male because it is the easiest and I will admit I am totally biased...

Robert Pattinson (and you thought I was going to say John Mayer)

Look how handsome he looks in that tux though. I mean the boy knows how to wear a suit. It also helps that he is devastatingly handsome, but I digress.

Anyways, as for Worst Dressed Male I am not even going to bother in naming anyone because in the end no one really cares about that category anyway. It's sort of like the Best Short Foreign Animated Film of the Fashion critcs. No one really cares. (I'm really not sure if that is a category, but you get what I'm saying)

Ok, next Best Dressed Female!:

This is always a fun one and there were a lot of gorgeous dresses this year so it is a tough one as well. But my award goes to:

Natalie Portman

Now I am generally never a huge fan of pink, however Natalie made it look great. Also, she kept it simple with her hair up and no necklace. Love it!

If only I had a reason to wear a gown like this! For some reason I don't think any of my professors would appreciate me showing up to class in something like this. Oh well.

Now, onto the most fun category. WORST Dressed Female! Oh the excitement! I'm going as far as to have nominees for this category so they are as follows:

1) Jessica Biel for her white towelesque shapeless sheet. Furthermore, it was easily wrinkled.

2) Sarah Jessica Parker for her over the top belted white wedding dress(?)

3) Beyonce Knowles for her mother-designed gown that looked like window treatments.

And the Oscar goes to...

Beyonce Knowles

The usually flawlessly dressed Beyonce fell flat with this gown (if you can call it that). Sources (Perez Hilton) tell me her mother designed it so I guess it makes a little more sense. But honestly there is just no valid excuse for the atrocity of this dress, that looked like window curtains wrapped (albeit tightly wrapped) around a human body. Uggh.. Better luck next year, Sasha Fierce.

I'll take care of Luca Brasi...

They just don't make movies like they used to. When I say "used to" I mean like they did in 1974 before I was born. So where did this revelation come from? Obviously from Italian Tuesdays (dine-in Pizza Hut restaurant followed by watching the Godfather). Watching it all the way through (w/o the 10 minute commercial breaks courtesy of American Movie Classics) just makes it so much better too. I have finally reached the point where I actually know who all the gangsters are by name and I must say it makes me feel really cool. I have even decided to start peppering my conversations with Godfather references. Who could of guessed that it was Barzini all along and not Tattaglia! Not me! They shot Sonny in the toll booth. OMG! Not Sonny! (He was my favorite)

So I guess what I really want to know now is what can I change my major to that will qualify me to be the Don of a mafia family? I think organized crime may be where my future lies. It's better than selling life insurance after all.

This is Luca Brasi :
(being "taken care of")

Tobias Funke, where do babies come from?

Tobias Fünke: Yes, okay, uh... well, have a seat. Uh... um... when a man... needs to prove to a woman that he's actua- when a man loves a woman, and he actually wants to make love, uh, to her, something very, very special happens. And with deep, deep concentration and, and great focus, he's often able to achieve an erec...

George Michael Bluth: I'm sorry, I'm going to stop you. I know what you mean. I, I didn't mean babies in general.

Tobias Fünke: Oh, well that's good. Because it was about to get a little, eh, gross.

In honor of Valentine's Day...

It has been a while since I have written. I have been busy. But in honor of V-Day, here are some of the best parts about it that I have chosen for your viewing pleasure.

The ultimate candy heart:

The best Facebook status of the day (and I quote) : "Insert name here is wishing everyone a happy Valentine's Day. Jesus' love is all you need :)."

... And last but not least the ultimate CS marketing board (illustrated by yours truly):

Half priced candy tomorrow!

First Geithner, Now Daschle

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-02-01-daschle_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

Does no one understand how to pay their taxes correctly?

Seriously? This again?

Microsoft Excel: Friend or Foe?

Now as a rule I generally like to keep my personal journal and my blog separate, not because my journal is super personal but to be honest for the most part it is not very interesting. Generally, I don't have too many exciting things happen to me during the day. Today though, I have decided to recycle my journal entry for blog use partially because I am too tired to write something new and also because I think it is blog-worthy. So with a few minor changes and no further introduction:

January 26, 2009

I had my first panic attack of the semester today. After spending my weekend blissfully ignoring reality, the new week hit me like a pile of bricks. I have two exams this week, the kickoff meeting for my FWIB Finance Committee, and the usual 5-day work week. Also, a messy room on top of that with a quickly depleting bank account. So naturally this all hits me while I am sitting in class today thinking about anything besides the Statistics I am supposed to be paying attention to. I thought I would be alright though, as I got out of class at 3 and assumed I had the rest of the day to begin the assignment I needed to do before my exam Wednesday night. However fate held something different for me. I don't know why I didn't expect it, as my past experiences have shown that technology truly hates me (Virtumonde right before final exams last semester? Yeah, that was me.) But of course I did not see this coming and the computer program I needed to run to do my Stats homework will not run with my Excel program. I guess I should mention that this assignment is being tested on in my exam. Great. Really, that's just perfect because I didn't want to get an A in this class anyway. And sure maybe I could of tested my software before two days prior to the first exam, but I've only been in classes for three weeks now. What would you have done? So anyways after two hours of computer help hotlines, pathetic phone calls to my Dad and to the Geek Squad, I inevitably crumble up into a ball on my bed (even more pathetic because it is covered in laundry that needs to be hung up) and let the gloom of computer illiteracy rush over me. Not to worry though, this story has a happy ending. After feeling sufficiently sorry for myself, I get up and talk to Heather and she luckily volunteers the services of her computer savvy beau, who has promised me tomorrow to install Office 2007 on my computer because he has an extra copy. There really is a God! Take that, Science! I guess the moral of this story is that some people just cannot deal with dysfunctional technology (or incompatible computer programs) and that I will probably have to marry an IT professional so I don't die of a stress-induced heart attack before I hit 22.

Worst Week Ever! Vol. 1

What a week! (I consider it over now because I only have classes Monday-Thursday) Many exciting things have happened this week. However, I would like to focus todays thoughts on who is having the worst week ever. This week the award by far goes to the University of Florida in general and UF professors to be more specific. It was pretty much a land slide victory by Tuesday when word got out of the 2005 CLAS (that is, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences) Teacher of the Year Michael Heckenberger, an anthropology professor being arrested for cocaine possesion. Now, cocaine is bad yes but what is worse is that he saw a police car, threw down his bag of cocaine, then proceeded to tell the officer who was arresting him that he was intending to trade said bag of cocaine for sexual favors from a man. TMI, my friend. TMI. It baffles me as to why he would divulge this information, as if it would get him off the hook. I personally still have many more questions on this story but this is all the information I have at the time so I will leave you the newspaper article link if you feel compelled to know more.

http://www.alligator.org/articles/2009/01/20/news/campus/090120_professor.txt

While this story is scandalous, it wasn't it alone that sealed UF's fate as having the worst week ever. However, it was another CLAS professor that got them one step further to this designation. Thank God I am a business student. The Independent Florida Alligator reported this week of the resignation of English professor James Twitchell after an April plagiarism scandal. This man taught English (English!) at the university level for 35 years and was caught taking credit and collecting book royalties for work written by others. This is deplorable, as an English professor of all people should know all the rules of plagiarism better than anyone else. (Just as the Secretay of the Treasury should know all the codes of income taxes forwards and backwards, ahem, Timothy Geithner.)

http://www.alligator.org/articles/2009/01/20/news/campus/090120_professor2.txt

I would also, like to give my award of Best Week Ever to Timothy Geithner, our soon to be U.S. Treasury Secretary for successfully beating his delinquent payroll taxes rap. Now, I understand the U.S. tax code is incredibly complex but shouldn't the person who is to be in charge of the United States treasury be able to pay the appropriate amount of payroll taxes? If he can't do it, then why should I? On a related note, where is my bailout? (Sorry, that was a digression but I have always wanted to say that.) Anyways, after a docile Senate Finance Committee hearing the majority of U.S. senators found that Mr. Geithner's tax deceptions were "innocent ones." I just hope I get that sort of leniency one day.

Surrealize the potential of this movie...

A film about Salvador Dali that also stars Robert Pattinson. Sounds like the only movie I will want to see all year. (With the exception of Harry Potter 6 of course)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGDE75No0Fo

All I want out of life is a hand-drawn WSJ portrait

Two days into my Wall Street Journal subscription and I have already made a new goal for my life. This newspaper really does make you ambitious. I have decided that my life will not be complete until I have a drawn portrait of myself featured in the Journal. Now I know this is a pretty risky goal because with it there is probably at least a 50% chance that the reason for my portrait being in there will be a $50 billion dollar Ponzi scheme (too soon?) or something else equally horrifying. But I guess I will just have to take my chances. Nothing says that you have made it (or in some cases lost everything) like a tiny picture of yourself within the text of an article that in most newspapers would be an actual picture, but not in the Journal, in the Journal it is a hand drawn portrait. Irregardless, it always means that you are a big deal, and I don't really know how to put this but I'm kind of a big deal (or at least will be once I get this portrait).


*As an interesting side note, check out the two Henry Paulson portraits featured in the WSJ. The one on the left features a dignified Paulson pre-recession. The right hand side has a stern and weathered Paulson beaten down by the economy.


I will conclude with a thought for Rupert Murdoch: If Shamika Miller, a laid-off former Home Depot bookkeeper, can have a tiny hand drawn portrait of herself on the FRONT PAGE of the 1/15/09 WSJ because she frequents the library for its free wi-fi we can think of some way to get me in there too.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123197709459483585.html
(This is the online story, in the print edition she had a coveted tiny portrait)

The "Real" World

I can no longer watch The Real World...

According to Heather: "There is no longer anybody I can be attracted to on this show."

Besides the fact of this, they are not real. They are frivolous with tattooed eyebrows (another Heather comment, she helps me see things more clearly)

I am bored of this already. Kind of like how I get bored of The Real World.

NeYo is stealing all of Kelly Clarkson's Songs

It may be the wine talking, but I have made a startling discovery this evening. NeYo, the famed R&Bist (ok, I'm not really sure if this is the correct genre, I am not musically inclined) has stolen at least two songs from Kelly Clarkson! Yes, shock and awe. Shock and awe, people! The former American Idol pop icon has been infringed upon. I first noticed this as I jammed out to NeYo's 'Miss Independent' as I straightened my hair. If you don't remember, Miss Clarkson had a song a few years ago falsely entitled "Miss Independent" because the woman she sang about was far from independent. Just because you say you are "self-sufficient" and "on her own" does not make it true! (I'm sure you will go back and listen to that song again immediately) After the song ended, I went back to my computer to find a new song to listen to (I was on YouTube, thus had to click on something new to hear a new song) and what pops up but another NeYo song aptly titled, "Because of You"! Now call me crazy, but I believe THIS was a Kelly Clarkson song too. I believe in one coincidence, but two! I mean come on, I'm not stupid. So what is even more startling than this is that the two songs are also polar opposites. NeYo's 'Miss Independent' may in fact be independent (as evidenced by Gabrielle Union's totally blowing him off at the end of the music video) while Clarkson's 'Miss Independent' said "goodbye old you, when love is true." Furthermore, "Because of You" Kelly Clarkson can no longer stray too far from the sidewalk (what does that even mean?), while NeYo knows this much is true, you have become his addiction. I think he might like the girl! (And can stray from the sidewalk, but that is a different story) So there you go, I have uncovered another enlightening tale of our time. What a sad time we live in.

2009's Challenge: To Be Better than 2008

It's 2009, I never thought this year would ever get here. But now that it is let us discuss why this year will be the best year ever, or at least better than 2008. (In no particular order)

1) I am only taking three classes this semester. This should free up my time to enjoy the finer parts of college life. (i.e. Happy Hour every day of the week, random weekend road trips, etc.)
2) I am 21 this year. (Goodbye fear of jail time)
3) I already have a job that I like. (Will not start off my semester babysitting for devil children like I did in 2008)
4) The sixth Harry Potter movie is coming out this year.
5) I am keeping a blog and a journal this year. So it may be the most documented year of my life. (So I will be mad if it's not better)
6) 2009 will be my last real summer before I go into the real world. (Full time job in 2010?)

So with that, I want to make 2009 the best year ever. 2008 will be some tough competition though because I did go to Europe in 2008. Bring it, 2009!